Birds and Flowers
by Agent Numbuh 227
Summary: Collection of one-shots for the first Rosebird Week. A different prompt every day for eight days, eight days of fluffiness between Summer Rose and Raven Branwen. These one-shots are be set in the same universe as the RWBY story that I'm planning so the events in them will be considered canon within that story.
1. Day 1: First Meeting

**These one-shots had initially been written for the first Rosebird Week last August. Due to a lack of inspiration and my real-life interfering, I was unable to finish them during that period. I recently got the motivation to complete them, and I hope to have them done before I return to school. Also, I rewrote some bits to add some new ideas that I came up with, one of them making Summer Rose a Wolf Faunus, but I'll give more information about that at the end of this one-shot. So, please enjoy it!**

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"Oh, my Gods!" Summer Rose glanced out the vast windows, excitedly watching as the airship that she on approached Beacon Academy, the white-hooded girl's enthusiasm increasing with each passing second. How could she not be excited? Beacon was the best Huntsman Academy in all of Remnant! They only accepted the best of the best, and their graduates often went on to become living legends. Heck, even the professors were often legendary Hunters themselves!

Though her tail was beginning to hurt from trying to wag while being restrained under her skirt, but Summer would just have to bear with it. Despite her discomfort, showing her true nature as a Faunus was out of the question, despite the Headmaster's reassurances. While he was a kind and very open-minded person, Professor Ozpin was human and just didn't understand how much Faunus suffered in a human-dominated world.

_"What if I'm not ready?"_ she whispered to herself. Her mind conjured all sorts of horrible scenarios, from getting expelled to her future teammates learning that she was a Faunus and rejecting her. Unbeknown to Summer, her Aura was reacting to her inner distress, and a small gale blew through the ship. The other future students stared with a mixture of surprise, confusion, and awe as red and white rose petals manifested from the hooded girl's cloak and swirled around her form on the wind.

Summer was unaware of this as she tried to calm down her anxious thoughts and put her worries to rest with some self-reassurance. 'It's fine; everything will be okay. Okay, I never attended a combat school, and my upbringing wasn't exactly normal. Still, my fighting skills were good enough to impress Professor Ozpin into admitting me one year early.' Her expression turned into one of determination. 'And as for my future teammates learning that I'm a Faunus, well, I'll worry about that after the teams are assigned.'

'Besides, Aurore, Ro, Dodger, and Olive also believe in me. I've never let them down before, and I won't start doing it now!'

It was then that Summer noticed that all the other passengers were looking at her direction. Wondering what they were looking at, her eyes widened when she saw the petals fluttering around herself, the wind now being a gentle breeze that matched her calmer emotions. Summer blushed a deep red and pulled up her hood to hide her face. Her mortification increased as most of those watching recovered from their shock and chuckled, except for one tall, muscular blond guy who gave Summer a look of sympathy. Luckily, her embarrassment didn't last long as the ship finally docked, and the students begin to disembark.

Summer makes a quick escape by manipulating the wind to give herself a boost in speed. Unfortunately, since she had her hood up over her head with her eyes focused on the ground to not make eye contact, her field of vision was impaired. Hence, it was no surprise that she did not see the dark-haired girl right in her path.

The white-hooded girl squeaked as she crashed into someone the person fortunately skilled enough to keep themselves from being bowled over, though her face ended up pressed against a pair of soft, firm masses. Before she could try to figure out what these orbs were, Summer felt a hand grasping the back of her cloak and pulling her away, their strength enough to lift her off the ground.

"What are you doing?" The female voice was slightly deep, resounding with strength and annoyance.

Looking up, the first thing that Summer saw were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. They were the color of a red sunset and appeared to almost glow in the sunlight, boring into her soul with their piercing gaze. It was another moment before Summer stopped focusing on the eyes to take in the rest of the woman's had a round face with a sharp chin, and a cute nose, her full lips set in an annoyed frown that matched the look of her eyes. Her skin was a light color but not as pale as Summer's, and her long ebony hair tied up in a ponytail, styled in a way that it resembled a raven's plumage. She was very tall with a muscular but curvaceous body, wide hips, and a pair of large breasts (and Summer blushed deeper than before as she quickly realized that was what she had faceplanted). She was wearing a black-and-red outfit with samurai-like armor, a sword hanging from her hip. In short, she was the most beautiful woman that Summer had ever encountered.

"Hey! Are you deaf?"

Jolting, Summer realized that she had forgotten that the dark beauty had asked her a question. "Oh, sorry." She mumbled, but that seemed to make the other woman angrier.

"Sorry? You almost knocked me into the ground, then just stare at me like an idiot, and all you have to say is sorry?"

"Um, well…" Summer wasn't particularly good at talking to new people, and this girl's attitude was making her more nervous, and she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "I didn't mean to put my face in your boobs!" '_Idiot! Why did I say that?'_

The tall, dark beauty looked at Summer like she couldn't believe what has just come out of her mouth. The shock was so great that her grip on the back of Summer's cloak loosed, and the smaller girl was dropped back on the ground, who thankfully didn't fall on her butt. The dark girl just kept staring at Summer with a mixture of annoyance and disbelief.

"Geez Rae, we haven't been here for a day, and you already have girls wanting your goods. I'm so jealous!"

The two women turned to look at the voice's owner, a young man about their age, his hair, eyes, and skin tone the same as the taller girl's. He was wearing a white shirt half tucked in his black slacks, and a ratty, red cape draped over his shoulders. Summer could see that he was also a sword user, the handle of his blade visible over his shoulder. And while his appearance was like the dark woman's, his face was set in a playful, teasing smirk.

While Summer looked at him with curiosity, 'Rae' appeared to be more exasperated and annoyed than before. "Shut up, Qrow." She glared at him through Qrow seemed unaffected by the burning eyes.

"Aw, come on, sis." teased Qrow. "No need to be embarrassed! You're a good-looking woman, so it's not surprising that people would want a closer look."

"Qrow, I'm serious! If you don't shut up, I'll kill you!" He just chuckled softly with that teasing smirk, not looking worried at his sister's death threat.

Summer let out a giggle as she watched the siblings interact, remembering how Ro and Dodger liked to tease Dawn all the time. Her giggles caught the twins' attention, 'Rae' switching her glare to Summer while Qrow chose to introduce herself.

"Hey," he gave a wave. "Name's Qrow, and I see that you've met my big sister, Raven."

"I'm Summer, nice to meet you both." _'Yay, I'm making friends!'_

Qrow nodded. "Likewise," then his smirk widened as he motioned to his still scowling sister. "And Raven feels the same, but she's too shy to say it."

"Augh!" shouted Raven exasperatedly and stomped away as Qrow and Summer laughed.

'_Stupid Qrow, can't go one day without getting on my nerves! One day I'll finally lose my patience and kill him for real.'_ Thought Raven as she stood at the back of the crowd waiting for the opening speech. Everyone gave her a wide margin, most likely intimidated by the angry energy that Raven was emanating. _Good,_ she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone else today.

As she subtly watched the entrance while she quietly seethed, Raven saw her brother and the hooded girl come in. They exchanged a few parting words before the girl headed for a spot closer to the stage while Qrow looked around for a moment until he spotted Raven and headed towards her. Raven glared as he approached, but, as always, it was ineffective. Immunity to Raven's patented death glare was one of the advantages of being related to her.

"Hey, sis," His greeting was met with angry silence. "Don't tell me you're still angry?" Raven's glare intensified. "Come on; it was just some teasing! Your girlfriend thought it was funny."

"She's not my girlfriend!" _That_ managed to break Raven's silence. "Just some clumsy girl that bumped into me because she wasn't paying attention. What is she even doing here? She looks like she's, I don't know, twelve or something."

"She's sixteen."

"Really? She was short for her age then. What else did you two talk about?" By this point, Raven's anger was momentarily put aside as her curiosity was piqued.

"Mostly about our weapons, she is a bit of a nerd about them and was interested in Harbinger. She then showed me her own, and it was impressive." Qrow was himself a weapons enthusiast and crafter, and it was clear that he was happy about meeting someone with similar interests. "She also told that she got early admittance because she impressed the Headmaster."

Raven's eyebrow raised, interested. "Really, what did she do? Defeat a Beringle with her bare hands?"

"Don't know, she said it was personal, but that's beside the point. If she managed to get into Beacon early, then she must have some skills, apparent clumsiness aside."

"Well, whatever we did to get in early doesn't concern us or our mission, so don't get too attached since, if she manages to graduate and become a Huntress, we might one day end up having to kill her."

Qrow's smirk faded into a frown. He hadn't been happy when the Tribe's leader told them to become students to learn how to counteract Hunters and make the Tribe stronger. Neither had Raven for that matter despite her harsh personality and love of fighting. She did _not_ like killing people without a good reason, but going against their leader's orders was suicide, so they resigned herself to completing the mission.

Qrow scoffed. "Whatever, I'm still going to talk to Sum later, and no one from the Tribe is her to keep tabs on us, so what they don't know won't hurt them."

"Ugh, fine!" Raven said exasperatedly, knowing that she couldn't stop him anyway. "Do what you want! Just don't start flirting with her."

"Nah, don't worry about it, she's not my type anyway, even though she is cute." Qrow's smirk was back as well as the teasing. "So, you don't have to worry about me stealing your girlfriend."

"_Qrow!"_

But before Raven could try to strangle him, Professor Ozpin cleared his throat to indicate that he was about to give his speech. So, Raven just settled for sending burning glares her brother's way, but he only answered each of them with a smirk. Finally, she decided to ignore him, Raven focused on Ozpin's words of 'encouragement,' though she caught sight of a familiar white cloak near the front.

She found herself blushing as she remembered how the girl crashed into her chest but tried to shove these thoughts into a far corner of her mind as they would only distract her from the mission.

Though she admitted to herself (but to no one else, ESPECIALLY not Qrow), those silver eyes were quite beautiful.

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**Yeah, I had Summer's Semblance be Airbending, and I won't hear any complaints! My first idea was for her Semblance to be Teleportation, but I've seen it used before, and I wanted something unique but still connected to Ruby. Then I read a story in which Summer's Semblance was creating a storm of razor petals to shred her enemies, so that inspired me to make her Semblance be wind manipulation. And I had Summer admitted one year early because I thought that it would be a cool idea. Those comments about Summer having never gone to school are part of the backstory that I gave her for my story, as are the people she mentioned, but I won't go into much detail until I post the story.**

**Now, about Summer being now a Wolf Faunus, this was an idea that had occurred to me some time ago, and I decided to add it in when I rewrote this. To not give too many spoilers about what I planned for Summer's backstory, I will just say that Summer is a half-blood, cause her mother was human while her father was a Faunus. Ruby is technically a Faunus as well, but she only has 1/4****th**** Faunus blood, so her Faunus traits are subtle. Therefore, she doesn't have a tail and looks human, except that she has fangs, as well as night vision.**

**Next chapter uses the prompt: First Date/First Kiss**


	2. Day 2: First Date-First Kiss

**Here's the second one-shot for the Rosebird Week with the prompt 'First Date/First Kiss.' I hope that you enjoy it!**

**Edits: Summer Rose is now a Wolf Faunus**

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Summer had developed a small crush on her partner ever since they had first met and said crush had grown over the past year despite initial unfriendly personality the other girl had displayed. Not even Raven revealing to her the real reason why she and Qrow had enrolled at Beacon had eliminated Summer's feelings toward her partner. However, she _had _momentarily felt some betrayal before Raven swore that she didn't want to go through with that plan anymore. Learning that Raven had trusted her so much made Summer's crush grow, but she had kept it hidden for fear that Raven didn't reciprocate and that it would ruin their friendship. But then Raven had asked her out which gave Summer the courage to reveal her feelings towards the former bandit.

A few days later, a Saturday evening found Summer Rose inside one of the bathrooms in her team's dorm room just finishing getting ready for her first date with Raven, the taller woman getting in the other bathroom, getting ready herself. Neither woman had ever gone on a date before, so they weren't exactly sure what to do at first. Luckily, Tai had gone on a few dates himself and was able to offer some ideas. It was a relief because otherwise, they would have had to ask _Qrow_, which Raven knew you should never do.

Putting the finishing touches on her hair, Summer was now ready, and she took a moment to look herself in the bathroom mirror to make sure everything was perfect. She was wearing a knee-length black dress with white straps, a white sash and white on the border of the bodice, a white scattered rose pin on the dress's sash, dark gray stockings, and black pumps. Instead of her usual half-up, half-down style Summer had let most of her long, almost black red hair loose with a small portion tied up with a white ribbon. Though she didn't care too much about wearing make-up, Summer had put on some black mascara and red lip-gloss. Also, her black-and-red wolf tail was thoroughly brushed and had a white bow tied on it, the furry appendage not being hidden for once.

Seeing that everything was perfect, Summer exited the bathroom to find the boys lounging around the room, Tai playing videogames while Qrow sketched what looked to be modifications for his weapon, Harbinger. They lifted their heads from their activities at hearing the bathroom door opening, and both smiled in approval.

"You look beautiful, Summer," smiled Tai.

Summer smiled back at the compliment, her tail wagging softly. "Thanks, Tai. I hope that Raven thinks the same."

Qrow huffed. "Believe me, Sum. My sister will be speechless when she sees you."

It was at that moment that the other bathroom door opened for Raven to emerge. She wore a strapless red dress with black accents that hugged her curves and red strappy heels on her feet. That surprised Summer since she knew Raven didn't like wearing heals (or 'stupid lady stilts as she called them). The silver-eyed girl felt happiness bubble within her at the knowledge that Raven had wanted to look her best for their date, her tail's wagging increasing in response to her positive mood.

Just as Qrow had predicted, Raven speechlessly stared at Summer as soon as she laid her eyes on the shorter woman, and Summer found herself unable to speak herself. How could she say anything when no words could describe what she felt when she saw how beautiful Raven looked at that moment.

The two women were broken out of their stupor by the sound of Qrow's voice. "Hey, weren't the two of you going someplace, or are you just going to stare at each other all night?"

Breaking out of her stupor, Raven spared a glare at her smirking brother before turning her attention back to Summer, offering and her hand and smiling. "Shall we?"

Summer giggled at took the offered hand in her own. "Yeah, let's go."

After saying good-bye to the boys, the girls exited their dorm room and headed for the docks where they took an airship to Vale. Once in the city, thy hailed a taxi to take them to the restaurant that Raven had chosen. The girls had decided that for their first date, Raven would decide the eating place while Summer would decide where they'll go afterward.

"This place is very nice, Raven." The silver-eyed girl said as they sat at their table. Raven had made reservations for an eatery that's served a variety of Mistralian dishes at reasonable prices. The _Mistral Delish_ was fancy enough to have a dress code, and the prices were low enough that the 'common people' could enjoy high-quality food. Most importantly, the establishment was Faunus-friendly, so Summer could freely display her tail without someone harassing her for it.

"I'm glad that you like it," the dark-haired woman was pleased that her date approved of the place that she'd chosen.

A waiter soon came over with their menus and after taking their drink orders, leaving them to decide what they wanted to eat with Summer asking Raven for suggestions. The silver-eyed woman had only eaten at Vale-focused restaurants before, so she had little experience with the cuisine of the other kingdoms.

"Well, actually, I haven't tried as many of these myself," the raven-haired woman admitted. "Most of our food came from animals that we hunted or obtained by _other means_." She said the last part with no small bit of shame, and Summer understood the implication, so there was no need to elaborate. Raven recovered quickly and smiled reassuringly. "Still, we did sometimes get to eat at inns and such so there are _some_ things that I can recommend."

The waiter came with their drinks and quickly took their orders, promising that their food would be ready soon. The two women busied themselves by sharing some stories from their younger years. Raven was relating about the time that Qrow had tried to ride a Nevermore and somehow lost his pants when their food arrived. Summer had ordered Grilled Fish with Southeastern Mistralian Dressing while Raven had opted for Chilli Chicken with rice. After thanking the waiter, the pair dug into their food with gusto. Afterward, they ordered dessert, Raven pineapple cakes, and Summer friend banana cakes, sharing them like before.

After finishing their food and paying the bill (as well as tipping their waiter), the girls exited the _Mistral Delish_ and hailed another taxi. Summer gave the driver directions to the place she had chosen for the second part of their date. The driver took them to one of the more rundown districts in the city. Raven was curious as to why Summer had decided to take them here but, seeing the strange look that Summer had on her face (a mixture of apprehensiveness, determination, and nostalgia), she refrained from asking.

The taxi let them off at the entrance of a small park with a slightly rundown sign informing that it was called "Dickens Park." Summer quickly led the way into and through the trees, Raven looking around as she followed. The park was surprisingly nice-looking, and it appeared to be well taken care of in comparison with the rest of the district. Still, Raven couldn't fathom why what was this place importance to Summer.

The pair soon arrived at a small clearing, and Raven stared in awe as she gazed upon the many night-blooming flowers growing there. "It's beautiful," she breathed.

Summer giggled at that. "It gets better," and she guided a curious Raven to take a seat in the center of the clearing and waited. The wait was not a long one as many tiny lights began to shine among the flowers, and soon, thousands of fireflies started dancing around the couple, dazzling the young huntresses-in-training with their performance.

"_Wow,"_ whispered Raven, awed by the spectacle. She then turned to Summer with a massive smile on her face. "This is amazing!"

"Hehe, thanks." Summer grinned smile, though when she looked back at the dancing fireflies, the smile turned melancholic. "The others and I used to come here when we could sneak out, sometimes to play but often just to watch the fireflies. It was one of the few brighter spots in my life."

Raven's eyes widened at that, realizing the significance of this place. Summer's childhood wasn't as good as many assumed; the shorter girl rarely talked about it as she barely had any good memories of that time. So, the fact that she was sharing one of those few good childhood memories was a big deal, and Raven felt honored that Summer trusted her so much.

"Thank you," Summer's gaze returned to Raven. "For sharing this with me."

Summer didn't say anything, but her smile was happy again and then leaned forward and pressed her lips to Raven's. The taller woman froze in shock, but she quickly closed her eyes and soon reciprocated the kiss as electricity seemed to flow between them.

After what felt like an eternity, the pair separated and opened their eyes, their gazes locking together.

"_I love you,"_ whispered Summer, her smile brighter than the light of the fireflies.

"_I love you, too,"_ and Raven hoped that her smile was half as brilliant as Summer's.

Nothing more was said as the two women sat back to continue admiring the dances that the fireflies performed among the night blossoms under the shattered moon's light.

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**Some more hints about the mysterious backstory that I gave Summer, I wonder if anyone can guess what it is. Yes, Dickens Park is a reference to Charles Dickens, and one of his works might be a clue.**

**Next chapter uses the prompt: Mother AU**


	3. Day 3: Mother AU

**Here's the one-shot for the Day 3 Prompt: Mother AU. In this AU, Raven didn't leave, and Summer never disappeared, so they are both here to raise their daughters. Tai is the girls' donor though he treats Yang and Ruby as his daughters, and they, in turn, see him as their father. He did have a crush on both Summer and Raven but accepted that the two loved each other. Also, Summer is now a Faunus, or rather half-Faunus, as her father was a Wolf Faunus while her mother was a human. And while Ruby has Faunus blood, she's still 3/4 human, so any Faunus traits she has are subtle.**

**A/N: Some dialog at the beginning is taken from the episode Ruby Rose from the show, but I changed it enough not to make it too similar.**

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"I still can believe my baby sister is coming to Beacon with me!" Yang Xiao Long's ecstatic shouting fills the air as the curvaceous blonde girl hugged her younger sister, a huge smile on her face. "This is the best day ever!"

The older girl didn't seem to notice how hard she was squeezing the red-hooded girl. "Yang…ugh… _please stop!_" Ruby pleaded, wheezing.

"Yang, let your sister breath, please," Summer scolded as she walked up to her daughters with a smile on her face, the rest of her team following. "We've told you to be careful with your hugs since you're stronger than most people."

"Oh, oops," the blonde girl looked sheepish. "My bad!" And she released her sister, allowing Ruby to breathe again. "Sorry, but I'm so proud of you!"

"We all are," added Tai.

"Yeah," Qrow agreed as he took a swig from his flask. "It's not every day that you get admitted into Beacon two years early."

"I'm not surprised," said Raven as she crossed her arms. "Afterall, children tend to take after their parents." she directed a proud smirk at Summer, who'd blushed at the praise, feeling embarrassed but also pleased.

"Really, everyone, it was nothing." Ruby was trying hard to hide her red face in her equally red hood.

"It wasn't nothing!" exclaimed Tai.

"You're too modest," Raven glanced at Summer as she said this, as the older hooded woman also tended to downplay her accomplishments.

"Yeah," said Qrow. "Not many 15-year-olds can singlehandedly stop a robbery." He took another drink from his flask. "Sure, you didn't catch that Torchwick guy, but it still impressed Oz."

"Yeah, it was incredible!" exclaimed Yang. "Everyone at Beacon will think you're the bee's knees!"

Ruby didn't seem to find that to be a good thing. "But I don't want to be the 'bee's knees,' or any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees."

"That expression doesn't have anything to do with knees," Tai pointed out but was ignored.

"What with you?" Yang was confused by her little sister's apparent lack of enthusiasm. "Aren't you excited?"

"Of course, I'm excited… I just…" the red-hooded girl sighed, looking down. "I don't want people treating me weird just because I got moved ahead two years. What if I'm not as good as they expect me to be?"

Looks of comprehension came to everyone's face as they realized what was bothering Ruby, Summer understanding better than anyone what her younger daughter was going through. So, she walked up to Ruby and cupped her cheek, and the young girl lifted her head so that their matching silver eyes met.

"I get it, Ruby," Summer said with a reassuring smile. "I was nervous about going to Beacon early, too. I was scared that I might not live up to the expectations that were placed on me and disappoint everyone."

That surprised Ruby as she couldn't imagine her mother fearing anything. She was one of the best Huntresses that had graduated Beacon and had destroyed many powerful Grimm, either by herself or with her team.

"But I didn't let that nervousness overcome me because I remembered all of the people who believed in me, and I knew that I wouldn't let them down." Summer placed her hands on Ruby's shoulders. "You too have people who believe in you, Little Rose, so I know that you won't let anyone down."

Ruby stared at her mother in awe for a moment before her smile widened until it is as bright as Summer's, revealing her larger-than-normal fangs, and both hooded Roses hug, with the rest of their family joining a second later.

The speakers suddenly announced that the flight for Beacon was now boarding, and the Xia Long-Branwen-Rose family disengaged from the hug. With one last good-bye, Ruby and Yang joined the other passengers boarding the airship, and a short while later, the aircraft had flown away towards Beacon.

The four members of Team STRQ watched the airship leave, and once it's out of sight, the quartet headed home, Tai and Qrow taking the lead while Raven and Summer hung back.

Summer sighed, "I already miss them."

Raven rolled her eyes but still smiles. "It hasn't even been half-an-hour."

"I know, but now I'm thinking how empty the house will be without them."

"I know, but we should enjoy the peace while it lasts since it will be noisier than normal on the holidays." Raven pointed out. "Especially if the girls decide to invite their future teammates over."

"Hmm, you do have a point," Summer then gasps as something occurred to her. "What if they bring a special someone over?" she seemed excited at the prospect.

Raven's eyebrow rose. "Well, I _can_ see Yang doing that, _Ruby_?" she scoffed. "That'll be a surprise."

"Well, I did find you," they stopped for a moment, and Summer kissed Raven, the dark-haired, quickly reciprocating a second later. Separating, the lovers held gazes, small smiles on their faces. "So, I don't think that we should be worried about that."

"Hm, you're right as always," Raven chuckled and went back to kissing the love of her life.

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**This one was kind of hard to write even if it was shorter than the previous two. With luck, I might be able to write and upload the next one-shot later today, and I'll be trying to finish the rest by tomorrow.**

**Next chapter uses the prompt: Confession**


	4. Day 4: Confession

**Sorry about the long absence, but my real life kept me busy, and, until recently, I didn't have any motivation to write. Recently, I bought some eBooks about writing fanfiction from Amazon; the advice in them helped me get over my writer's block. I managed to complete both this one-shot and the next one, as well as write drafts for the remaining prompts. I will post the next chapter on Friday, and I hope to have this story finished by the beginning of August, at best.**

**Here's the one-shot for Day 4's prompt: Confession and it's a prequel to the events of Day 2: First date/First Kiss.**

**Edits: Summer Rose is now a Faunus with a wolf tail. I will give more information at the end of the one-shot.**

* * *

'_This was a bad idea!' _Raven Branwen thought as she anxiously paced around her team's empty dorm room. Tai was practicing some new moves at one of the training rooms, Qrow was at the workshop modifying Harbinger while Summer was at the library, looking up information for her homework. The white-cloaked leader was the reason why the usually calm and confident woman was so uncharacteristically anxious.

'_I can't tell her; she'll hate me! I better keep- NO!'_ the red-eyed woman abruptly stopped pacing, clenching her fists, and gritting her teeth. _'No, I already decided to tell her, and I won't back down now!'_ Raven sighed and whispered, "She deserves to know."

"Know what?"

"_Kya!"_

Raven would forever deny the yelp that had left her mouth at being startled by her partner's voice. She turned around and saw Summer Rose standing in the open doorway with a trio of thick textbooks in her arms and an amused smile on her face.

The shorter woman giggled. "Sorry, Rae," didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't scare me," Raven's quickly denied, blushing. "I was just… surprised."

Summer's eyebrow rose. "Right…" She walked into the room, closing the door behind her. "So, _what_ do you want to tell me?"

Raven's nervousness returned, and her blush intensified, but she ignored it. "Let's sit down first," she gestured to their desk.

Summer looked confused but complied and set her books on the wooden desk, taking a moment to free her wolf tail from its tied position under her skirt before she sat on one of the chairs as Raven did the same. The silver-eyed woman looked at her partner, expectantly.

"W-Would you-" I mean, so you want- I mean," Raven made several attempts to speak, but the words refused to come out clearly. "GAH! Dammit, why was this so hard?" she screamed in frustration. For The Brothers' sake, she was a (former) bandit! She had faced countless threats, both as a bandit and as a Huntress (in-training). It should not be so hard!

Summer, meanwhile, looked concerned. The last time that Raven had so much trouble telling her something was when she revealed the _real_ reason why she and Qrow had come to Beacon. "Raven are you alri-"

"Would you like to go out for dinner?!" Raven interrupted, practically shouting her question.

"Oh, sure," Summer agreed, a bit confused. "I'll call the boys and let them kn-"

"NO!" Summer leaned back, startled by her partner's outburst. Groaning in frustration, Raven buried her face in her hands to hide her blush and explained. "I mean just you and me… alone"

"You mean like a date? I-I'd love to!" Summer's cheeks pinkened, and a beaming smile split her face as her tail wagged softly.

"You do?" Raven lifted her head in surprise, trying to hide how happy she felt though she wasn't wholly successful.

Summer nodded, still smiling. "I had a crush on you ever since we first met," she admitted, her blush increasing as she recalled how their first meeting involved her crashing into the other girl's "assets." "I had wanted to ask you out for a while now, but I wasn't sure if you liked me that way, and I was worried that it would make things awkward between us, so I didn't say anything."

Raven was surprised by Summer's admission, but she understood as she had also feared that confessing her feelings would ruin her friendship with Summer. Fortunately, things had worked out fine, and now both could move forward without worry.

"So," Summer asked. "What are we doing for our date?"

Raven froze at Summer's question as she didn't have an answer. She had been so worried about confessing to Summer that she hadn't planned out anything for the possibility of her returning those feelings.

"Ehhh… give me a few days to think of something," Raven said, face now red from embarrassment.

Summer giggled at Raven's oversight. "Sure. How about this Saturday?" she suggested, and Raven gave her a rare genuine smile despite her blushing face.

"Yeah, that works."

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**I'm so glad to have finally posted this one-shot since trying to write it was one of the reasons why I had writer's block. I had initially wanted to write Raven revealing to Summer that she was a bandit, but had a lot of trouble writing that (partially because I had made some alterations to the Banwen Twins' backstory). In the end, I decided to scrap that scene and just mention that it had already happened. **

**Now, about Summer being now a Wolf Faunus, this was an idea that had occurred to me some time ago, and I decided to add it in when I rewrote this. To not give too many spoilers about what I planned for Summer's backstory, I will just say that Summer is a half-blood, cause her mother was human while her father was a Faunus. Ruby is technically a Faunus as well, but she only has 1/4****th**** Faunus blood, so her Faunus traits are subtle. Therefore, she doesn't have a tail and looks human, except that she has fangs, as well as night vision.**

**The next chapter uses the prompt: Beacon Ball.**


	5. Day 5: Beacon Ball

**Here's the one-shot for Day 5's prompt: Beacon Ball, with the events happening during Team STRQ's second year. Please enjoy it!**

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It was the night of the Beacon Dance, and the young Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-Training from all four academies had gathered in the ballroom to enjoy a night without worrying about anything, be it attending tedious classes or fighting dreadful Grimm.

Raven stood by the punch bowl, holding a cup of punch as she scowled in annoyance. The only reason that she was here was that Summer had wanted to come as the cape-wearing girl had missed last year's dance to stay with Raven at their dorm while the boys attended. Though she claimed that she wanted to be alone, Raven had secretly been grateful that Summer had kept her company since she would have become bored all alone. That had been one of the moments that had made her fall in love with Summer.

Now that they were dating, Raven was determined not to let Summer miss another dance, even if she did not find such events to be of interest. So, she had learned how to dance from Tai, threatening to gut him if he ever spilled a word about it (she later did the same with Qrow after her brother caught them practicing), and bought a dress. It was a black, strapless piece that reached her ankles and had slits on the sides that exposed her toned legs. She had put the same effort as her first date with Summer in obtaining this outfit for the dance, even getting matching footwear despite her hatred of wearing heels.

'_Summer is worth it, though,'_ Raven thought as she took a sip from her cup and immediately noted that the punch was spiked. She at first assumed that Qrow had done it but, after she thought about it, it could have easily been another Beacon student or from one of the other academies. It's not like students haven't spiked a punch bowl at a party before, Raven reminded herself as she looked around for the boys.

Tai was on the dance floor with a girl she was sure was from Shade, while several other girls looked on in slight envy as they waited for their turn to dance with the muscular blond. Tai and Qrow were both extremely popular with the ladies (and some boys as well), so they had been asked to dance by several girls. Unable to choose, the boys had decided to dance with all of them. Though it seemed that Tai was left to entertain the girls by himself as Qrow, already drunk from the spiked punch, appeared to be busy trying to flirt with a fourth-year student from Atlas, James Ironwood, she recalls correctly. According to her brother, he had a massive stick up his ass, though, if the bright red blush adorning his otherwise stoic face was anything to go by, he seemed to be receptive to Qrow's flirting.

"_Raven!"_

Raven turned around at hearing her girlfriend's voice, and she stared in stunned silence as Summer approached her. She was wearing a white dress that reached just below her knees with a red sash around the waist and had a short-sleeved red bolero jacket worn over her shoulders. Her long black-and-red hair was out from its usual half-up, half-down style, and was now hanging in waves around her shoulders while her wolf tail had a red bow tied around.

Summer had, with the support of her teammates, become much more confident about displaying her Faunus heritage and no longer kept her tail hidden. Besides, if someone were to be dumb enough to harass Summer over it, they'd soon find themselves facing the wrath of her teammates, two of them being (former) bandits and the third one having a Semblance that created fire by absorbing damage.

"Hi," Summer greeted her as she arrived at Raven's side. "You look so beautiful, Raven," she complimented her girlfriend, a small smile on her face.

"T-Thanks," said Raven, blushing hard. "You look nice, too."

Summer blushed as well, but her smile widened, which made Raven smiled as well. Thew two began talking about random stuff like how hard their classes were, some recent unsupervised missions they had taken, some students from the other schools that they had met. Raven also warned Summer about the spiked punch, mentioning how drunk Qrow already was.

"He's over there flirting with that Ironwood guy instead of being his usual annoying self when talking to the Atlas students."

"Wait, he is?" Summer asked as she looked around for them. Spotting the pair, she gasped in excitement, "Oh my Gods, Qrow has a crush! How cute!" she gushed as her tail wagged happily.

Raven groaned as she recognized the look on Summer's face. "Please, don't set up my brother with an Atlas student," she begged.

"Of course, I won't do that," Summer said sweetly, but the mischievous look on her face told Raven that she _would_. She resigned herself to being drafted into another of her girlfriend's matchmaking schemes and one involving her brother, no less!

A slow song started playing, and many couples began to dance together. Summer looked at Raven. "Do you want to dance?" she shyly asked as she held out her hand to her girlfriend.

Raven looked unsure for a moment but answered, "Okay," and took Summer's hand.

As they danced alongside the other couples, Raven felt nervous but pushed that feeling aside as she remembered the lessons that Tai had given her. Summer smiled at her in encouragement, and that banished the rest of Raven's anxiety as she confidently glided across the dance floor. Tai, who was dancing with a different girl near them, smiled and nodded, happy to have helped. A _very_ drunk Qrow had also noticed them and stopped his flirting (much to Ironwood's relief and _slight_ disappointment) and rose his cup of (spiked) punch as if giving a toast to them.

Raven rolled her eyes at her brother's antics while Summer giggled in amusement as they continued dancing to the music. The pair suddenly stopped and just gazed into each other's eyes, sterling silver and ruby red orbs locked together. And as they lost themselves in their partner, their faces slowly inched closer-

The music suddenly switched to a fast, energetic tune, pulling the two girls out of their trance. Noticing the music, Summer looked up at Raven and smirked. "Shall we?" she silently asked.

Realizing what she meant, Raven smirked back and replied, "Let's do this."

They performed a mixture of salsa and tango with some acrobatics added in, moving their bodies to the rhythm of the music in a fantastic display of agility and skills befitting of a pair of Huntresses. Raven was surprised that they capable of moving like this while wearing heels, especially since she had only learned how to dance a few weeks ago. She does not think about it for long and focused back on dancing with Summer.

Their impressive dancing skills caught the attention of the entire ballroom, and students from all four schools stared amazement as the two girls' movements became more and more elaborated. Their awe increased when a light gale blew through the ballroom, and a flurry of red and white rose petals began spiraling around the two girls.

Unaware of their audience, Raven and Summer carried on with their intricate choreography as the petals produced by Summer's Semblance swirled around them. Raven could not remember the last time that she had enjoyed herself this much in a way that did not involve fighting. Summer had been enjoying herself as well, for once not worried about her responsibilities as the team's leader, just having a great time alongside Raven. It was the best night she ever had!

As the song came to an end, Raven pulled Summer towards herself, then dipped her, and swirling rose petals drifted toward the floor. They stayed in that position for a moment, breathing heavily and faces red from the intense dancing as they once again locked gazes.

The girls were startled by loud applause, and they realized that everyone had been watching their performance. The heat in their faces increased as the crowd continued to cheer for them, Qrow and Tai being the loudest.

Summer smiled up at her, and she found herself smiling back despite her embarrassment, glad that she had decided to come.

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**I think the hardest part of this one-shot was writing the dance scenes even if I was vague about describing their dancing. I also had to make sure that their dresses weren't too similar to the ones they wore during their date in the second one-shot.**

**I added a bit of IronQrow there even though I prefer pairing Qrow with Clover Ebi (Fair Play). My interpretation is that Qrow and Ironwood used to have a crush on each other, and they dated but broke up. I haven't exactly come up with a specific reason for their break up, but I imagine that it's a sour subject for them.**

**Summer liking to play matchmaker is something that I came up with to flesh out her character, at least her school-aged version. She eventually grows out of scheming to get people together (mostly), though she still likes the idea of her friends and family finding significant others. We saw that on Day 3's one-shot where she was excited about the possibility of Ruby and Yang bringing a romantic partner home.**

**The next chapter uses the prompt: Meeting the Tribe. I already have a rough draft/outline for it, and I will now be working on writing the final version. Hopefully, I will have it done and posted on either Monday or Tuesday.**


	6. Day 6: Meeting the Tribe

**This stupid chapter should have been done and up about two weeks ago, but writing it took longer than expected. I hope that it was worth the trouble it caused me. Anyway, this is t****he sixth Rosebird one-shot, using the prompt: Meeting the Tribe.**

**(Why is no one reviewing this story here? At least give me a "Good job!", people!)**

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"Well," Tai said uneasily, "this seems to be the place."

Summer slowly nodded as they took in the wooden log wall that surrounded the Branwen tribe's camp. Two guards, a man, and a woman stood in front of the closed gate, and they could catch glimpses of movement through the gasps of it.

It had been a few months since a large group of bandits led by Rook, the then leader of the Branwen Tribe, had attacked Team STRQ while they were investigating an abandoned village in Anima. Rook had decided to personally make sure that Qrow and Raven paid for defecting from the tribe after all the thugs that he had sent had failed to kill the twins.

Fortunately, the bandits had underestimated the third-year team so, while Summer, Tai, and Qrow took care of the bandits, Raven confronted Rook by herself. During their fight, it was revealed that Rook was Qrow and Raven's uncle and that he had murdered his brother, the twins' father, so that he could become the tribe's leader. Raven had been furious to learn this, but Rook took advantage of her anger and managed to disarm Raven. Before her could kill her, though, Summer had swooped in to save Raven, and together, the two girlfriends defeated Rook. Though, then Raven was forced to kill him when he attempted to stab Summer while her guard was down instead of surrendering.

After leaving the rest of the surviving bandits to the Mistralian authorities and giving their report to Professor Ozpin, Raven stated that she and Qrow were staying in Anima. Qrow explained that, since Rook was dead, Raven was now the rightful leader of the Branwen Tribe, so the twins wanted to find the tribe and return it to how it was before Rook took over. Summer and Tai were shocked but still supported their decision, even if they were sad about their partners leaving. Surprisingly, Ozpin was also very understanding and had given the twins an extended leave from their studies so that they could focus on restoring their tribe to its former glory (though this made Raven even more suspicious of the man than she already was).

Raven and Qrow had kept in contact with the other half of their team, letting them know how everything was progressing. Two days ago, the twins said that things had stabilized and invited them to meet the tribe. Summer and Tai accepted the invitation, and, with Ozpin's permission, they packed their bags and flew towards Anima.

As Summer and Tai walked towards the gate, their approach noticed by the two guards standing before it. "Hey! Who the hell are you two?" the male guard demanded as he and his companion raised their weapons threateningly.

"We're friends with Raven and Qrow," calmly said Tai, his arms raised in a placating gesture. "They invited us to come here."

"Hm, the Boss _did_ tell us to expect visitors," the female guard acknowledged though neither of them lowered their weapons. "But how can we be sure that she was talking about you?" her eyes narrowed as she looked at them suspiciously, the other guard doing the same.

Summer and Tai looked at each other worriedly, neither of them sure how to prove that they were telling the truth.

"Easy there, Joe," they all turned at hearing the familiar voice and saw Qrow sauntering towards them. "Raven won't like it if you shoot her girlfriend."

"G-Girlfriend?!" the two guards shouted in unison as they looked back at Summer, their eyes wide with shock.

"Qrow!" Summer gasped excitedly, and she glomped her teammate in a hug, her tail rapidly wagging in happiness at seeing him after so many months apart.

Qrow chuckled in amusement. "Hey there, Shortstuff," he said as he ruffled Summer's hair.

"Hey, Qrow," greeted Tai as he walked over to them. "Good to see you," he held out his fist towards his partner.

"Same," said Qrow as he gave Tai a fist-bump while Summer still hugged him. "Raven missed you too, even if she won't admit it."

"That's our Raven, alright." Summer giggled, finally letting go of Qrow

"Well, let's not keep Rae waiting any longer." He turned to the guards, who were still gawking from learning that Summer was dating their Chief. "Hey, Joe! Jess! Open the gate!"

Qrow's shout jolted the guards out of their shock. "R-Right, sure thing, Qrow," said the female guard, Jess as she and Joe hurried to open the gate, allowing Qrow, Summer, and Tai to enter.

They walked through the camp, a collection of tents of various sizes spread out randomly, and towards the Tribe's Chief's tent. Raven was standing outside her tent, speaking with a group consisting of three men and a woman, all appearing to be in their fifties.

"Hey, Raven!" Qrow called her name. "Look who came to visit!"

Raven turned away from her conversation, annoyed at being interrupted, but then she noticed who was accompanying her brother, and a small smile graced her face.

"Tai, Summer," she greeted them calmly, but they knew that she was happy to see them by the way her red eyes were shining.

"Hey, Rae," Tai said back, smiling.

Unable to hold herself back any longer, Summer glomped Raven. "I missed you, Rae!" she exclaimed, her rapidly wagging tail indicating how happy she was.

Raven stiffened in surprise at Summer's sudden hug, but she managed to awkwardly return her girlfriend's embrace, happy to be reunited with the love of her life after months apart.

"_Ahem."_

The cough startled them out of their embrace, and the girls turned around to see that they had an audience. Raven was embarrassed as she had forgotten about the people she had been talking too. The four of them (plus Qrow and Tai) had huge smirks on their faces, looking quite amused.

"So, aren't you going to introduce us to your friends?" asked a large, dark-haired man with a jagged scar across one of his golden, hawk-like eyes, a teasing tone in his voice.

"Um, yeah, right," Raven still looked a bit embarrassed but quickly pushed it aside. "These are Qrow's and my teammates, Taiyang Xiao Long and Summer Rose. Tai, Summer, these are the tribe's elders, Wei," a dirty blond man, "Talon," a brown-haired man, "Jin," the sole woman, who had black hair, "and Hawk," she indicates the scarred man.

"Um, nice to meet you," said Summer shyly.

"Hm, so you're the girl who managed to catch Raven's eye," Hawk stared at Summer, his sharp, hawk-like eyes narrowed.

Summer stared back, her silver orbs unflinchingly meeting Hawk's yellow eyes despite her nervousness as they seemingly bored into her soul. There was a moment of intense silence then-

"HAHAHA!"

Team STRQ were startled and confused when Hawk began laughing uproariously, the other elders also chuckling a bit.

"Haha, I now see why Raven fell for you," Hawk said as his laughter subsided. "You have a strong spirit." He then turned to Raven, and with a teasing smirk in his face, he added, "Not to mention, pretty as well."

He laughed again as Summer's and Raven's faces turned bright red, with Tai, Qrow, and the other elders joining him this time.

"Well, that was fun," said Summer a while later, after the elders left to do their own thing. "I enjoyed talking to them."

Summer had wanted to learn more about the elders so, while Qrow went ahead to show Tai around, she and Raven stayed back to speak with Hawk and the others. They hadn't minded as they also wanted to know more about Summer and gladly answered her questions while also sharing some funny stories from when the twins were younger, much to Raven's mortification.

Raven groaned. "Of course, you did," she said, still embarrassed by the elders' teasing.

"Oh, don't be like that," Summer lightly swatted Raven's shoulder. "They are helping you with leading the tribe, after all."

The Hawk had explained that their job as elders was to serve as a sort of council, advising the tribe's leader on what decisions were for the tribe's best interests. When he was the leader, Rook ignored the elders' input and had even threatened them when they protested his decision raid villages and caravans. In contrast, Raven always listened to their wisdom. She also pushed her pride aside to ask for their help in restoring the tribe to its former glory. And once the twins returned to Beacon, the elders would be leading the tribe until they had finished their Huntsman training.

Raven sighed, "You have a point." She then motioned for Summer to follow her as she began walking away from her tent. "Now come on, I'll show you around."

Summer excitedly followed her girlfriend as Raven gave her a tour of the camp and introduced the rest of the tribe. The tribe's members were rough and suspicious at first, as expected from people who had formerly been bandits, but Summer's warm disposition quickly broke through their tough-guys facades and brought out their friendlier sides.

Summer was surprised to see that, while most of the tribe's members were human, there were a few Faunus amongst them.

"Some are survivors of Grimm attacks on their villages," said Raven when Summer asked about them. "Though most of them were rescued from slave traffickers. Since they had nowhere else to go and because we needed more people, the tribe took them in."

Summer nodded in understanding and growled at the mention of slave traffickers. While it existed in all the continents, the trafficking of people, be it humans or Faunus, was more prevalent in Anima, and Faunus were the most frequent victims.

Raven placed her hand on the Wolf Faunus's shoulder, and Summer took a deep breath to calm herself down. She gratefully smiled up at Raven, her girlfriend smiling back before they continued with the tour.

They found Tai in the middle of an arm-wrestling competition while Qrow cheered alongside some other tribe's members. Judging by how some of the onlookers were rubbing their sore arms, Tai was on a winning streak, though, his current opponent (a huge tattooed man) seemed to be giving him a run for his money. Eventually, though, Tai was victorious, and, after accepting congratulatory back pats from those present, he and Qrow joined the girls.

"Hey," greeted Qrow as he approached them. "Had fun talking with the old guys?"

"Yeah," Summer nodded, her tail slowly wagging. "They told us a lot of fun stories," her smile turned mischievous. "Hawk told me the one about you and the porcupine."

Qrow gaped in shock, his face turning bright red as the two women laughed in amusement. Summer noticed that Tai looked confused by his partner's embarrassment and curious about the reason for it. "I'll tell you later," she whispered to him, and he nodded.

"Anyway, both of you seem have been having fun," observed Raven, referring to the arm-wrestling match that Tai had won.

"Oh, yeah, that guy sure was tough," Tai then looked worried. "I hope that he wasn't too upset about losing to me."

"Nah, don't worry. Brutus did need someone to knock him down from his high horse," Qrow reassured him, his face still a bit red. "Besides, the tribe respects strength, so you likely impressed him."

"Whew, that's good," Tai sounded relieved. He then asked, "So, what are you two doing now?"

"Oh, Raven is showing me around and introducing me to everyone," said Summer, her tail's wagging increasing.

"Ohho, showing off your pretty girlfriend to the whole tribe, are we, sis?" Qrow teased, completely recovered from his earlier mortification.

Raven just rolled her eyes but smirked, "Of course, dear brother, they all must know just how much an amazing person their leader's girlfriend is."

The boys chuckled as Summer's face was now the one glowing red, though the Wolf Faunus smiled at Raven's compliment.

"Anyway, I need to finish introducing Summer to everyone," said Raven. "You two are welcome to join us."

The boys agreed, and the four continued with the tour.

Night soon fell, and the whole tribe gathered around a massive fire in the middle of the camp, eating and drinking while they talked and shared stories. Tai was chatting with Brutus, while Qrow was laying on the ground, already passed out after winning a drinking competition. Meanwhile, Raven and Summer were cuddling together near the fire, enjoying each other's company as they watched the flames dance.

Then, a quartet of Faunus, consisting of a female with donkey ears, a male with cat ears, a female with dog ears, and a male with feathers mixed with his hair, picked up some musical instruments and began playing a lively tune.

As some people got up to dance, Raven turned towards Summer and held out her hand. "Do you want to dance?" she asked, in an inversion of their roles from the time that Summer had first asked Raven to dance with her.

And just like Raven did back then, Summer's answered by saying, "Okay." She took her girlfriend's hand, and the two joined the dance.

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**I'm not sure that I liked how I wrote this chapter; it feels that it has some info-dumping in some parts. Please let me know if there's anything that I can improve. All original characters that appeared or got mentioned belong to me; the rest belongs to Monty Oum and the Rooster Teeth team. While Hawk and the other Tribe elders don't have a specific inspiration, the four Faunus who were playing instruments near the end allude to the Musicians of Bremen, and I might use them again in the future (with actual names and more detailed descriptions, of course).**

**The next chapter is going to take a while since my classes start on Monday and I'll be working on some other stuff.**

**The next chapter uses the prompt: Pregnancy/Kids.**


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